“For 70 years, Russia suffered from Communism and Marxism, and it incurred huge losses. And now they want us to accept another form of totalitarian ideology,” he said.

“We had doubts about the Kyoto Protocol, we wanted reasoning from our partners in the European Union, in the IPCC (International Panel of Climate Change). Formal requests had been sent to these organizations. But we have not received responses yet, which suggests that no coherent answers can be offered. What we hear is ‘it is not comprehensive responses that matter, we will not give them anyway; what is important is whether you believe us or not’,” Mr. Illarionov said.

He stressed that government agencies had to make responsible decisions based on scientific knowledge, not on faith. “We have received no single argument in favor of this document except political pressure. No link has been established between carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. No other objective facts have been presented in recent time. The IPCC’s reports in 1990 and 1995 show it clearly,” Mr. Illarionov said.

Economic reasoning provided by the supporters of the Kyoto Protocol is also untenable because, according to Mr. Illarionov, Russia will exceed limits established by the document, not later than in 2010. “If we develop at the same rate as over the past five years, we will exceed this level in 2009. If we develop at a rate necessary to double the GDP within ten years – a goal set by President Vladimir Putin, - we will reach this level in 2008,” the Economic Adviser said.

“We are close to a consensus that the Kyoto Protocol does huge economic, political, social and ecological damage to the Russian Federation. In addition, it certainly violates the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens, and well as the rights and freedoms of citizens in those countries which … signed and ratified it,” he stressed.